Preps / High School Sports

Catcher Greg Bird from Grandview has a big decision to make after going in MLB draft's fifth round

Grandview's Greg Bird, the state's Gatorade high school baseball player of the year, is hoping to get first round-type money from the New York Yankees, who drafted him Tuesday. He already has signed with Arkansas.
(Steve Nehf, The Denver Post)

Greg Bird's phone may have stopped ringing by now. All day Tuesday, though, it was a different story.

The Grandview catcher was the first Coloradan selected this year in Major League Baseball's annual June draft, going in the fifth round to the New York Yankees. He has been fielding calls ever since.

"It's totally cool," Bird said from California, where he is playing in a summer league. "And that's the thing — everyone hears (about the selection), and my phone's just been blowing up all day: 'The Yankees! The Yankees!' "

Bird, the state's Gatorade high school player of the year after hitting .553 with 12 home runs and 38 RBIs, was drafted 179th overall. He said he had been hearing that he might be picked as high as the second or third round, but that teams backed off because of "the kind of money we were asking."

Bird, being advised by player agent Brody Schofield of Legacy Sports, is seeking a contract more in line with a first-round pick. If he doesn't get it, he said he will enroll at Arkansas and play for the Razorbacks.

2011 MLB draft

Complete coverage of the Colorado products taken in the three-day MLB draft:

"A lot of times teams don't want to waste a pick, so you'll slide down a little bit. That just seemed to happen," Bird said. "But still, we're really happy and excited. I was perfectly fine with that."

Bird will have leverage as he chooses playing college baseball or signing with the Yankees. If he picks Arkansas, he won't be eligible for the draft again until after his junior season.

"It's a win-win situation, it really is," he said. "I'm just really thankful to be in the situation and able to make the decision. It's going to be hard decision, but it's definitely a great decision to have to make."

For Logan Moore, the draft was more a surprise.

Moore, a catcher and third baseman at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling who graduated from Mountain View in 2009, was watching a live stream on MLB.com when he saw his name pop up. A minute later, he got a call from the Philadelphia Phillies, who selected him in the ninth round.

Moore expected to be selected in the 13th to 19th rounds. "It was crazy," he said. "It was kind of unexpected that early."

His father, Brad Moore, pitched in eight games for the Phillies from 1988-90.

"It just makes it that much more personal," he said.

Moore hit .321 with five home runs and 26 RBIs this season. He has signed to play at the University of Tennessee, but said he's leaning toward signing with the Phillies and giving up college baseball.

"(Playing professional baseball) is my ultimate goal, anyway, and the opportunity is right in front of me, so I might as well take it," he said.

Andy Burns, a former Rocky Mountain shortstop, went to the Toronto Blue Jays in the 11th round. He sat out this season after transferring from Kentucky to Arizona.

The Baltimore Orioles drafted Eric Wooten, a graduate of Skyview, in the 15th round. A left-handed pitcher, Wooten had a 1.69 ERA in 25 appearances with Central Arizona College this season. He struck out 35 and walked 17. He has signed with Arizona State.

Smoky Hill fireballer Matt Ogden went to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 24th round (724th pick overall). Three picks later, Kyle Ottoson, a 2008 graduate of Eaton who now pitches for Arizona State, was drafted by the Washington Nationals. In the same round, Regis Jesuit outfielder Connor McKay was drafted by the Rockies. Ogden has committed to Michigan, McKay to Kansas.

Dexter Price, a right-handed pitcher at South Carolina-Beaufort who graduated from Air Academy in 2008, was a 30th-round pick by the D-backs.

Five picks after that, Arturo Maltos-Garcia, a right-handed pitcher at Lamar Community College who graduated from Brush, was selected by the Chicago Cubs. Maltos-Garcia has signed with New Mexico.

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